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Run Discord’s own Mic Test and listen for yourself
Open the cogwheel in the lower-left, go to Voice & Video, and under Mic Test press Let’s Check. Discord plays your voice back through your selected output, so you hear immediately whether it is receiving audio at all. If you hear yourself, Discord has your microphone and the fault is downstream — input mode, sensitivity, or server permissions. If you get “Discord isn’t detecting any input from your mic”, it is the input device selection or an operating-system permission, and no amount of fiddling with voice settings will help.
Applies to: Discord on Windows and macOS, in the desktop app and in a browser. The Mic Test is desktop and browser only, so the mobile app needs the symptom rows instead. Voice settings differ slightly between the app and the web client, and both are noted where it matters.
What does the Mic Test do?
A microphone that works everywhere except Discord is almost never a broken microphone. Discord sits behind an operating-system permission, chooses its own input device independently of the system default, and adds an activation threshold on top — any of which produces total silence with no error. The Mic Test cuts through all of it by playing your voice back to you, which is why it belongs first rather than as a later check.
Nobody hears you at all
Does the Mic Test play your voice back?
Run the Mic TestDiscord says it detects no input
Is the right input device selected?
Pick the deviceIt cuts off the start of words
Is input sensitivity set too high?
Check sensitivityIt works in one server only
Do you have permission to speak there?
Check the server1. The Mic Test, and what each result means
Discord's built-in test is the fastest diagnosis available and most people never find it. Select the cogwheel icon in the lower-left corner to open User Settings, go to the Voice & Video tab under the Voice section, and under Mic Test press Let's Check. Your voice is played back through the selected output device so you can hear whether the microphone is working. Press Stop Testing when you are done.
Hearing yourself is a strong result. It means Discord has access to the microphone, the input device is correct, and the operating system is allowing it — the whole capture chain works. Your problem is therefore in what happens to that audio afterwards, which is sections 3 and 5: the activation mode, the sensitivity threshold, or permissions on the specific server.
The other outcome is equally informative. Discord shows a specific message — that it isn't detecting any input from your mic and to check you've selected the right input device — and its own guidance is exactly that: check the input and output devices are the right ones. That points at section 2 rather than at anything in the voice settings.
Testing while connected to a voice channel automatically mutes and deafens you, and you cannot talk in that channel again until the test finishes. Press Stop Testing rather than clicking away, or it will look like the channel has broken.
2. Mute, deafen, and the device Discord actually chose
Check the mute state before anything else. Discord's guidance starts here for a reason: a slash through the microphone icon at the bottom-left means your voice is disabled, and it is easy to toggle with a stray keypress. Deafen does the same thing plus silences everyone else, so if you also cannot hear anyone, that is the one to look at.
Then check which device Discord is using, because it does not necessarily follow the system default. In Voice & Video, the Input Device dropdown selects your microphone explicitly. A headset plugged in after Discord started, a webcam with a built-in mic, or a virtual audio device from streaming software can all end up selected instead of the microphone you are speaking into — and Discord will faithfully transmit silence from it.
Operating-system permission is the other half. Discord's guidance is to enable access on your computer for the input device and to check your app permissions so Discord has microphone access. On Windows this is Privacy & security → Microphone, and on macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone; in both cases Discord must be listed and enabled. In a browser, the permission belongs to the site rather than the app — check the padlock or camera icon in the address bar.
Desktop app
Grant Discord microphone access in the operating system's privacy settings, then restart the app.
Browser
The permission is per-site. Allow the microphone for discord.com from the address bar, then reload.
3. Input mode and the sensitivity threshold
If the Mic Test plays your voice back but nobody hears you in a call, the activation threshold is the most likely cause. Discord's automatic input sensitivity decides when your voice counts as speech, and when it is set too aggressively it clips the start of sentences or gates you out entirely — particularly with a quiet microphone or a soft voice.
Turn off automatic input sensitivity in Voice & Video and set the threshold manually. The bar shows your live input level; speak normally and place the slider just below where your voice sits, so ordinary speech clears it and room noise does not. If the bar does not move at all while you speak, you are back to a capture problem rather than a threshold one, and section 2 applies.
Push to Talk is worth ruling out at the same time, because a Push to Talk binding that no longer works produces exactly this symptom — Discord has your voice, and simply never transmits it. Switch the input mode to Voice Activity temporarily to test. If people hear you then, the binding is the fault rather than the microphone, and a conflicting global hotkey from another application is a common reason a working binding stops.
4. When it only happens in one place
A microphone that works in one server and not another is not a microphone problem at all. Servers can restrict who may speak in a channel, and some use a moderated stage or a role that must be granted before your audio is transmitted. If you can hear everyone and nobody hears you in a single server, ask a moderator whether you have permission to speak in that channel before troubleshooting anything on your machine.
Server Mute is the version people miss because it looks identical to muting yourself. A moderator can mute a member server-wide, and the icon shown to you differs only subtly from your own mute. If your own mute toggle does not change anything, that is a strong sign the mute is not yours to undo.
The mirror image — working in every server except one specific voice channel — usually points at channel-level permission overrides rather than anything global. Again, that is a question for whoever runs the server, and it is worth asking early rather than after an hour of driver work.
Test in a server you control, or in a direct-message call with a friend. That removes every server-side variable in one step and tells you whether the problem travels with you.
5. The microphone and the port
Discord's own guidance covers the physical side too: make sure the microphone or headset is properly connected, and if it is a USB microphone, try a different port. Test it in another application to confirm the hardware works — Windows Voice Recorder, macOS QuickTime, or an online mic test all serve. A microphone that fails everywhere is a hardware or driver problem, and Discord is an innocent party.
USB microphones and headsets are worth connecting directly rather than through a hub, a monitor, or a keyboard passthrough port, for the same reason as any other USB device: marginal power and shared bandwidth produce intermittent behaviour that looks like software. Move it to a port on the machine itself and retest.
Discord also advises updating your system and audio drivers, and notes this resolves many common audio issues. On Windows that means the audio device drivers rather than just Windows Update, and a headset with its own utility software often has firmware of its own. If the microphone stopped working immediately after a driver update, rolling that driver back is the targeted fix.
6. Audio subsystem, reset, and what to tell support
Two Discord-specific settings are worth knowing when nothing else has worked. Under Voice & Video there is an Audio Subsystem option, and Discord's guidance includes changing it to Legacy — that switches how Discord talks to your audio hardware and resolves a category of problems with particular devices and drivers. Discord will restart when you change it.
The bigger hammer is in the same area: User Settings → Voice & Video → Debugging tab → Reset Voice and Video Settings. That returns every voice option to defaults, which clears a bad combination you may not be able to identify. It costs you your input mode, sensitivity and device choices, so note them first if they were deliberate.
When you contact Discord support, lead with the Mic Test result, since their documentation is organised around it. Say whether the Mic Test plays your voice back, whether you get the no-input error, which input device is selected and whether it is the right one, whether the microphone works in another application, and whether the problem happens in every server or just one. Those five answers separate an OS permission from a device selection from a sensitivity threshold from a server permission.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my microphone not working in Discord?
Run Discord's Mic Test first — cogwheel → Voice & Video → Mic Test → Let's Check. It plays your voice back, so you hear straight away whether Discord is receiving audio. If you hear yourself, the capture chain works and the fault is the input mode, sensitivity or a server permission. If you get the no-input error, it's the selected input device or an operating-system permission.
Discord says it isn’t detecting any input from my mic. What now?
That's Discord telling you the capture chain is broken rather than the call. Check the Input Device dropdown in Voice & Video is set to the microphone you're actually speaking into — Discord doesn't necessarily follow the system default, and a webcam mic or a virtual audio device often gets picked instead. Then confirm Discord has microphone permission in your operating system's privacy settings.
Why does Discord cut off the start of my sentences?
Automatic input sensitivity is gating you. Turn it off in Voice & Video and set the threshold by hand: speak normally, watch the live input bar, and put the slider just below where your voice sits. Set too high, it clips the first word or drops you entirely — which is especially common with a quiet microphone or a soft voice.
My mic works in one Discord server but not another. Why?
That isn't a microphone problem. Servers can restrict who speaks in a channel, and a moderator can server-mute a member — which looks almost identical to muting yourself, except your own mute toggle won't clear it. Test in a direct-message call or a server you control: if you're audible there, ask a moderator about your permissions rather than troubleshooting your machine.
Where is the Mic Test on Discord mobile?
There isn't one — Discord notes the Mic Test is available on desktop and browser only. On mobile, check the app's microphone permission in your phone's settings, confirm you aren't muted in the call, and test the same account on a desktop or browser if you can, since that tells you whether the problem is the account, the server or the phone.
How do I reset Discord’s voice settings?
User Settings → Voice & Video → Debugging tab → Reset Voice and Video Settings. It returns every voice option to defaults, which clears a bad combination you may not be able to find by hand. Note your input mode, sensitivity and device choices first if they were deliberate. Changing the Audio Subsystem to Legacy in the same area is worth trying before this.
Sources and review notes
Checked on . Compiled by Glitchary from Discord’s support documentation. Discord ships changes frequently and setting names and locations move between releases — check Discord’s current article if a menu path does not match what you see. Server-side permissions are set by whoever runs the server and are not something Discord support can change for you. Glitchary is independent of Discord.